Press Announcements

A study co-authored by James Clark, the Ronald Weintraub Professor of Biology, has discovered that a species of dinosaur, Limusaurus inextricabilis, lost its teeth in adolescence and did not grow another set as adults. The finding, published today in Current Biology, is a radical change in anatomy during a lifespan and may help to explain why birds have beaks but no teeth.

A new study, co-authored by Associate Professor of Geography Michael Mann, found local weather may play an important role in Americans’ belief in climate change. The study revealed that Americans’ belief that the earth is warming is related to the frequency of weather-related events they experience, suggesting that local changes in their climate influence their acceptance of this worldwide phenomenon.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Carson M. Murray and postdoctoral scientist Margaret A. Stanton coauthored a paper titled, "Chimpanzee Fathers Bias Their Behavior Toward Their Offspring." The research suggests that male chimpanzees are more invested in protecting their own offspring than previously thought.

Char Beales, BA ’73, and her husband Howard Beales have pledged a $3.2 million gift to the School of Media and Public Affairs. In recognition of the changing landscape of journalism, the funding will create the Char Beales Endowed Professorship of Accountability in Journalism, focused on the importance of accuracy and accountability in journalism.

If it weren’t for textile dying advancements made 6,200 years ago, people today might not be wearing blue jeans as a wardrobe staple. Associate Research Professor of Anthropology Jeffrey Splitstoser has identified a 6,200-year-old textile dyed indigo-blue from Huaca, Peru, a piece of dyed cotton produced more than 1,800 years before the previously known oldest textile in that color.

Doctoral candidates Nikki Blacksmith and Jon Willford co-authored a new study examining the effects of technology-mediated interviews with Tara Behrend, associate professor of organizational sciences and communication. Through examinations of 12 articles published from 2000 - 2007 that included interviewer and interviewee ratings, they found in-person interviews yielded better impressions for the company and the candidate.

A new study examining wildfires in California found that human activity explains as much about their frequency and location as climate influences. The researchers systematically looked at human behaviors and climate change together, which is unique and rarely attempted on an area of land this large. Assistant Professor of Geography Michael Mann was lead author of the study.

An interdisciplinary team of scientists, led by Professor of Chemistry Stuart Licht, has worked out a way to make electric vehicles that are not only carbon neutral, but carbon negative, capable of actually reducing the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide as they operate. This development is the result of a collaboration between Licht and the laboratory of Vanderbilt University Assistant Professor Cary Pint.

Cynthia Dowd, Associate Professor of Chemistry, is studying a promising possible treatment for malaria and tuberculosis with a five-year, $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She will lead a team of researchers at five institutions.

President George Washington’s legacy as a champion of religious freedom and the acceptance of all faiths will be sustained with a new institute in GW's Columbian College. The university announced that the John L. Loeb Jr. Foundation and the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom have donated $2.5 million to establish the institute at GW.